The United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia recently held that an insurer had a duty to defend under a CGL policy and umbrella policy against claims relating to a hotel guest’s alleged contraction of Legionnaire’s Disease from a dirty hot tub. …
Read More Georgia Federal District Court Finds that Hot Tub Water is “Intended for Bodily Consumption”

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, applying Pennsylvania law, recently held that the fraudulent acts/willful violation exclusion contained in the subject Executive Protection Portfolio policy (the “Policy”) precluded coverage of defense costs for a criminal action and related derivative and securities lawsuits against an insured CEO.  The court also ruled that the insurer was entitled to recoup defense costs advanced. 

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Read More Pennsylvania Federal Court Rules That Fraudulent Acts/Willful Violation Exclusion Bars Coverage Based on CEO’s Guilty Plea and Insurer Entitled to Recoupment of Defense Costs

Earlier this year, a Chilean court found an insurance broker liable to an insurance beneficiary for failing to obtain the insurance coverage requested, which led to the insurer denying the beneficiary’s claim for disability benefits. …
Read More Chilean Court Finds Insurance Broker Liable for Failure to Obtain Requested Coverage, Leading to Claim Denial by Insurer

In Sienkiewicz v Greif (UK) Ltd, the Court of Appeal considered the combined effect of the House of Lords’ decisions in Fairchild v Glenhaven Funeral Services and Barker v Corus and section 3 of the Compensation Act 2006 on liability for mesothelioma claims. …
Read More UK: Court of Appeal Decision Demonstrates the Wide Applicability of the “Fairchild” Exception for Mesothelioma Claims

The Connecticut Superior Court recently granted the motion for summary judgment of a passenger’s insurer in a lawsuit concerning uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage on the basis that the amount of potential coverage was capped and coverage under this excess insurer’s policy was not recoverable. 

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Read More Connecticut Trial Court Dismisses Passenger’s Insurer From Uninsured Motorist Lawsuit

The Law Commission has now published the responses it has received to Issues Paper 5 “Reforming Insurance Contract Law: Micro-businesses”, published in April 2009. The Issues Paper asked whether micro-businesses should be treated like consumers for the purposes of pre-contractual information and unfair terms. 

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Read More UK: Publication of Responses to Law Commissions’ Proposals Concerning Micro-Businesses

Today, in the first criminal prosecution arising out of the subprime crisis, a jury acquitted two former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers, Matthew Tannin and Ralph Cioffi, of securities, wire and mail fraud. 

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Read More BREAKING NEWS: Two Former Bear Stearns Hedge Fund Managers Acquitted of Criminal Fraud Charges

October 30, 2009 brought several noteworthy developments to the enforcement of the Red Flags Rule and finalization of the Massachusetts security regulation, all of which may affect what you must do to comply. 

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Read More Recent Developments: The FTC Red Flags Rule and Massachusetts Security Regulation

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois recently granted an insurer’s motion for summary judgment, finding no coverage on the ground that the underlying complaint alleged solely intentional conduct that was not covered under the Errors and Omissions insurance policy at issue. 

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Read More U.S. District Court Grants Insurer’s Motion for Summary Judgment, Finding No Coverage Where the Underlying Complaint Alleged Solely Intentional Conduct

In December 2008, Michael Foot (formerly of the Bank of England, the FSA and the Central Bank of the Bahamas) was appointed by the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer to identify the opportunities and challenges facing the British Crown Dependencies (Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey) and six Overseas Territories (Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Turks and Caicos Islands). 

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Read More UK: Foot Report on British Offshore Financial Centres Published